Eschatology Archives - Kuyperian Commentary

On October 2, 2023 By Kendall Lankford In Postmillenialism, Theology Like

When Do The “Last Days” Really Begin? (Part 2)

INTRODUCTION

As you will remember from Part 1, a great noise exploded from the Upper Room in Jerusalem. Within those walls, a hurricane-like wind came rushing in, a torch-like flame settled onto the crown of each disciple’s head, and a crowd began forming to make sense of the confusion. Amid this pandemonium, all of the elect believers in the group, meaning everyone whom God had chosen for salvation, began hearing Peter preaching in their native language, causing wonder to come over the crowd. For the ones whom God chose and poured out His Holy Spirit, this was an exhilarating affair, watching the plague of Babel dissolve right before their very eyes.

But, men and women were standing there that day who were not elect. There were some whom God did not pour out His Spirit and for whom this dramatic display was patently absurd. They even began hurling the accusation that the recipients of the Spirit must be inebriated from drinking too liberally of spirits. This was a terrible mischaracterization. And suggesting the Holy Spirit’s work was on the same level of foul inebriation was likely a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that Jesus previously warned about.

Against this context, Peter began preaching from a text in Joel that perfectly fit the situation and precisely addressed both groups. Last week, we saw the situation. God was bringing the Old Covenant period of a temple, a priesthood, a sacrificial system, kosher laws, and clean and unclean statues to an abrupt halt. He ended that transitional era to bring about the final epoch of human history, where His Son, the true and better Adam, would recapture everything the first Adam lost. Because of this, that old Kingdom of types and shadows needed to go away because our Lord would not allow any rival kingdoms to become a distraction from His purposes.

With that, Joel also declares that there will be dramatic signs in the heavens, on the earth, and among the people of God, showcasing exactly when the last days began. According to Joel, “the last days” were not a future end of human history but the final moments of the Mosaic era, and when that glorious era faded away, there would be undeniable signs proving it was happening. As we saw last week, some of those signs applied to the believers, to the ones who experienced the outpouring of the Spirit, spoke in tongues, prophesied, had visions, and dreamed dreams. These signs would confirm that the old boat was sinking and they were on the new covenant raft. Today, we will look at the five remaining symbols, the ones that are signs of judgment for all those who have rejected Christ, and we will understand how all of this proves the last days Peter, Luke, and Joel were speaking about already occurred.

A NOTE ABOUT EARTHLY SIGNS AND HEAVENLY WONDERS

For many, Acts 2:19 guarantees that the events described concern things that have not already occurred. They will tell you that the first-century sky over the top of Jerusalem wasn’t filled with any significant wonders, the earth during those forty years was not full of various perturbations and signs, that the blood, fire, and smoke have no historical referent, and the sun and moon did not go dark and stop casting their light. Because, they say, these things have not yet happened; we cannot be living in the last days, and anyone who says so is full of malarkey.

One need only reply to that assertion with: “Hold my beer.”

(more…)

On September 22, 2023 By Kendall Lankford In Postmillenialism, Theology 1

When Do The “Last Days” Really Begin? (Part 1)

SWING AND A MISS

When Christians hear the phrase “The Last Days” or “The End Times,” what images come to mind? For some, a clandestine government laboratory where a pseudo-scientist whose name rhymes with Dr. Ouchie is busily brewing the next super woo-flu that will kill a quarter of the population is well in view. For others, it could be a one-world cryptocurrency, planes falling from the sky, a maniacal and blood-lusting monarch, or the Romish pope (if you’re really old school). Whatever the case, for the vast majority of evangelicalism, we have utterly missed it.

Now, when I say we have missed it, I don’t mean a booming foul ball ovah tha Green Monstah, kid! No. We missed it like an undersized middle schooler trying to make contact against a Randy Johnson slider. It wasn’t even close.

Instead of the final fleeting moments at a cataclysmic end to human history, when the Bible talks about the “Last Days,” it means the last days of the old covenant era. It refers to the winding down of that redemptive epoch where priests mediated between God and us, temples were where you traveled to meet with God, and animal blood sacrifices stood between you and the almighty. The “Last Days” picture the close of that significant era and the dawning of the final chapter of human history, where the world will know God through His one and only Son.

We are not waiting for that great eon to materialize in the uncertain future. The old covenant has been closed already, the new and final covenant era is fully here, and the events we will look at today, from Acts 2:17-21, will overwhelmingly confirm this.

THE TEXT:

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. – Acts 2:17-21 KJV

TEN PROOFS THE “LAST DAYS” ARE IN THE PAST

A BIT OF BACKGROUND:

Whenever one of the three great pilgrimage feasts prescribed in the Law occurred, Jerusalem’s population would swell from a couple hundred thousand to well over a million. This is because all Jewish males were required by the Law of God to attend these three festivals every year. And, since most Jewish males were also married with sizable families, the city would balloon up rather quickly.

Intriguingly, history reveals that numerous Jewish pilgrims embarked on journeys from the farthest reaches of the known world to partake in these festivals. While some hailed from nearby Judea and Galilee, a significant contingent had settled in the distant corners of pagan cities, towns, and nations across the vast reaches of the Roman empire. This widely scattered group bore the title of “diaspora Jews,” they arrived in Jerusalem, each carrying the rich history and traditions of their native people and the languages from their far-flung homelands.

Now, on the morning of Pentecost, downtown Jerusalem would have been packed with no shortage of extra bodies. Once-quiet city blocks, home to only a handful of families, now teemed with hundreds, even thousands, of individuals pressed tightly together. According to the account of Luke, as the Spirit descended, a deafening crescendo of sound erupted, undoubtedly piquing the curiosity of neighbors, onlookers, and the naturally inquisitive.

They found a group of very ordinary, a run-of-the-mill assortment of blue-collar Galileans. But, with one extraordinary twist. Instead of those Galileans praising God in Aramaic, the common tongue of the Jews, everyone present heard them praise God in their native tongue. For instance, picture those from Rome hearing hymns sung in Latin or Greek while those from Egypt listened to Peter’s preaching in the elegant flow of Coptic. Even pilgrims journeying from as far as Seluecia, modern-day Iraq, were met with the disciples speaking fluently in their Parthian tongue. They all collectively saw the ancient curse of Babel being miraculously reversed before their very eyes. Well… Not all of them.

Among them stood a few who remained untouched by the Holy Spirit’s power, hearing only an incomprehensible babel crescendoing from a cacophony of gibberish. Instead of recognizing the nature of this event as a fulfillment of eschatological prophecies, they hurled derision and ridicule upon the disciples, accusing them of inebriation.

For the one group, God had chosen to freely give them the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. That outpouring caused them to praise Him, to hear His praises in their own dialects and languages, and to go on to serve Him for a lifetime. For the skeptical party, God intentionally chose to withhold His Spirit, leading them from skepticism to utter ruination, poignantly demonstrating His total sovereignty over election and regeneration.

To clear up any confusion between these two groups and let everyone in earshot know what was happening, Peter stood up and declared precisely what was happening from the prophet Joel. Within those very poignant words from Peter, we will see ten undeniable proofs that the end times have already come.

This week, we will look at the first five that Peter mentions, describing the situation for those who love Christ and receive Him. They are the ones who will experience the Holy Spirit’s power, inherit the gifts and the fruit of the Spirit, and they are the ones who will endure to the end, and be saved in those last days.

Next week, we will look at the final five signs that Peter mentions from Joel’s prophecy, which concern those who hate Christ and reject Him. For them, incredible signs and wonders will demonstrate they are on the wrong side of the end-times debate. They will not make it alive into Jesus’ Kingdom; they will be buried in the ashes of Jerusalem, along with all of the other old covenant trappings and shadows.

With that, let us look at the first five proofs that the “last days” concern the events in the first century, focusing on how that applies to believers and Christians.

PROOF 1: PENTECOST SETS THE TIME FRAME

Peter addresses the concerns that they were drunk before the second breakfast by saying: “in the last days” God will pour out His Spirit “upon all flesh” (v. 17). Peter is acknowledging the loud sound they just heard and the miraculous gifting of this group to speak in each other’s languages, is proof that the outpouring of the Spirit had just happened, which makes this an eschatological event. Peter isn’t overlooking the scene unfolding beside Him to opine about something that will happen in the distant future. He claims that the last days had come upon them, and His chief evidence for this is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as Joel describes, just happened. Based on this, we can confidently say that the last days are not something we are waiting on but something that has already occurred.

PROOF 2: YOUR SONS AND DAUGHTER WILL PROPHESY

Along with the loud whooshing clamor in the Upper Room and the Holy Spirit’s miraculous appointment of tongue speaking among the crowds, Peter also claims that young men and women will prophesy in the last days. According to Luke, Joel, and Peter, the onset of male and female prophets in the first century was one of the sure signs that the Old Covenant era was drawing to a close because, in these last days, God had chosen to speak through His Son (Hebrews 1:2).

These men are clear: when you see young women and young men prophesying in the Spirit, then you will know that the temple, the priesthood, the ceremonial law, and the sacrificial system are on their last leg and the final chapter of redemption, where the world will be conquered by God’s reigning Son, will be fully inaugurated. For some time, both redemptive eras coexisted simultaneously. Meaning the new covenant era of Christ’s advancing Kingdom lived alongside the waning Herodian temple, the Aaronic priesthood, and the Mosaic system of sacrifice for about forty years (from the time of Christ’s ascension in AD 30 or 33 until the destruction of the temple in AD 70).

That Biblical generation (about 40 years) was the God-appointed season where men and women could prophesy, which is precisely what occurred in the first century. For instance, when Jesus was born and brought into Jerusalem to be circumcised, he was greeted by an elderly woman named Anna, and an elderly man named Simeon, who were called prophets and ones with whom the Spirit of God was speaking (Luke 2:25, 36). Paul also alerts us that young men and young women were prophesying in the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 14:1-6) and needed specific instructions on how to implement this gift appropriately (1 Corinthians 11:4-5). Luke also tells us that Philip, who was one of the seven Hellenistic deacons, had daughters who prophesied (Acts 21:8-9) and that there was a man named Agabus in the Christian Church who prophesied (Acts 11:27-28 and Acts 21:10-11).

Do not miss the fact that prophets had been notably missing from Judah since the death of Malachi, the final prophet. For four hundred years, God was silent, refusing to raise up new prophetic voices to speak to the people until the birth of His Son. When Christ was born, God unleashed the prophetic tongue once more and brought both men and women to speak prophecies in the early church, which again is a sign that the last days were occurring in the incredible events described in the first century.

There is one last point to consider before moving along. When God raises up prophets, especially female prophetesses, it is always in transitional periods during the waning of epochs. Think about it like a book with various chapters. The nation of Israel went through a chapter called slavery, a chapter about being set free and given a new covenant, a chapter about the occupation in a new land, a chapter of rule by judges, a chapter that describes the rule by various kings, an exile, a homecoming, and a period of silence that lasted 400 years. During each of these chapters near the closing moments of each, God raises a prophetic voice to bring that chapter to a close. For instance, God raised up Moses and Miriam (both described as prophets) in the waning years of the slavery period, just before a new era of communal Torah observance, called the Mosaic covenant, began. The same is true for Deborah, a prophetess before the Lord, presiding over some of the final years of theocratic rule by judges just before the Jewish Monarchy was installed. This was also the case for Huldah, a prophetess who had a significant role to play in the life of Josiah, a mere 30-40 years before the end of the Monarchy and the beginning of exile (2 Kings 22).

As the final grains of sand in the Old Covenant hourglass fell, it is not surprising that a proliferation of the prophetic occurred. It is also clear that this was a specific prophecy given by Joel, recounted by Luke, that confirms this would happen when the last days of the Old Testament had come. All of this points us to the fact that these prophets and prophetesses were a forty-year sign to the first-century believers and us that the last days had already begun and that a new era was dawning. That era is the epoch of Christ and His Kingdom, which we live in today.

PROOF 3: YOUNG MEN WILL SEE VISIONS

In the same way that a rise in prophetic activity would signal the last days of the Old Covenant era, visions among young men would also be used by God as a powerful testimony that the changing of ages was occurring. This is precisely what we see going down in the New Testament, and we do not need to speculate whether this sign was fulfilled in the first century. We know unequivocally that it was.

For instance, while Paul was on his way to kill the believers hiding in Damascus, he was confronted by a dazzling vision of the resurrected Christ (Acts 9; 26:18-20), where he was told to go into the city and wait for a man named Ananias to pray for him. When he arrived, the Lord also gave Ananias a vision as well, comforting the reluctant disciple that it was His will that Paul be healed (Acts 9:10-18). Beyond this, Cornelius the centurion saw a vision (Acts 10:2-4), Peter saw a vision (Acts 10:9-23; 11:5), Paul had multiple additional visions (Acts 16:10; 18:9), and John the apostle wrote an entire book of the Bible, which is the book of Revelation, based on a vision (Revelation 9:17).

Peter cited visionary experiences as critical evidence that the last days of the Mosaic period were occurring in the first century. By the Lord’s grace, we have a plethora of evidence pointing to this being true.

PROOF 4: OLD MEN WILL DREAM DREAMS

In addition to noises, tongues, the outpouring of the Spirit, prophesying, and visions, God continued piling up evidence that the last days were happening more than 2000 years ago by citing the fact that the old men would be dreaming dreams. This also occurred in the New Testament period, with examples such as Joseph, who, like his Old Testament counterpart, had many dreams (Matthew 1:20-24; 2:13, 19, 22), the Magi (Matthew 2:12), and even Pilate’s wife, who is not a man, but was given a specific dream by God as a warning to her husband, Pilate (Matthew 27:19). Once more, we see a proliferation of these events in the first century, not so we will be confused on the timing of the last days, but so God can give us exacting clarity.

PROOF 5: A JEWISH REVIVAL

Peter’s quotation from Joel 2 also states, in verse 18,: “On my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit.” When we realize that “my servant” is a common way for God to refer to Israel and Judah as a nation (Isaiah 41:8-9; 44:1; 49:3; 53:11; and Jeremiah 30:10), then we can understand that the prophecy of Joel is a prophecy, not just about the salvation of the nations, but also about the events beginning with a revived Jewish people who will have the Holy Spirit poured out upon them in the first century.

This certainly did not happen in full at the events of Pentecost, nor during this forty-year window we have been describing. And, for that matter, Joel does not predict a monolithic revival in Judah where everyone is converted to Jesus. That did not happen in history, and that is not at all what Joel says. When he describes the revival of Judah, he talks about it like there is a remnant that survives while the majority of the unfaithful Jews will perish. For instance, in Joel 2:32, the prophet says: “For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.”

Joel tells us that God will set apart a remnant of Jews to be a part of His elect people that will eventually take over the entire world. This happened most assuredly since the vast majority of the first-century church was Jewish converts to Jesus, beginning with the 3000 who were cut to the heart while listening to Peter preach (Acts 2:41). A future revival of Israel may still be coming. We pray to the Lord it does. But, it is no small matter that droves of Jewish people began worshiping a resurrected man named Jesus Christ in the first-century city of Jerusalem. Let us not take for granted how shocking that would have been at that time and in that context.

CONCLUSION

As we have seen from this text, Joel lays out five initial pieces of evidence that the first-century people were living in the last days. These passages have proven that the “last days” are not esoteric events in OUR future but clear events within the forty-year future of Peter and the first-century church. We have seen how the glorious outpouring of the Holy Spirit caused men and women to hear Peter, who was preaching in a foreign language, perfectly and clearly in their mother tongue. We have seen how the Holy Spirit’s outpouring caused His people to prophesy, His elect young men to dream dreams, predestined old men to hear visions, and a remnant of Judeans to come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ for their salvation.

The last days began in the first century and ended with the end of Jerusalem and her temple. That isn’t to claim that the Bible contains nothing in our future; it does. But when we consider this text and the ones that have come before, we can conclusively conclude that these events have already happened. Until next time, enjoy living in the last chapter of human history and get to work building Jesus’ Kingdom.

On August 8, 2022 By Joel Ellis In Theology, Worship 4

Popcorn, Not Parachutes

Since systematic exposition of relevant biblical texts and regular sermons on eschatology and the Christian’s one hope has not seemed to do the trick, I have decided to try a more direct approach. The doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture is not true. It is not taught in the Bible. It is, in fact, contrary to a number of things the Bible says clearly. It is a false hope, heterodox and unhelpful, even if not damnable. Some of you, no doubt, will disagree, and that is fine. We all will be mistaken about some things, and there are worse errors one might cling to than the pre-trib rapture. But it really is not serving you well. It has misplaced your hope in adversity, misled your priorities in the culture war, and caused you to miss the robust joy and cheerfulness you might have otherwise had in what God is doing at the present time. You think God packed you a parachute, but what you really need is a bag of popcorn.

No one in the history of the Church ever believed in a secret Rapture of the Church before John Nelson Darby suggested it in 1830. Dispensational scholars have tried to establish the doctrine’s pre-Darby provenance, but they read Church history anachronistically to do so. The Church’s hope has never been to escape from the present world. Such an idea is Gnostic, not orthodox. The Church’s hope was always to see the gospel of God’s glory fill the earth and to see Jesus return to raise the dead and judge the world. This is the one hope we have in Christ, not to avoid tribulation but to overcome it.

The pre-tribulation Rapture is a pious blasphemy, the belief God will withdraw his army from the battlefield before returning to recapture it. But this is not what the Bible teaches. The gates of Hades will not prevail against the Church (Matt. 16:18). That does not mean the Church will survive the Enemy’s onslaught; it means the gates of death and darkness will not withstand the Church’s campaign. Christ is not playing defense. The Church is always on offense. Even when she seems to be overrun by her enemies, time proves the sovereign Commander was acting strategically. We are not looking forward to getting out of here. We are to look around with excitement at what the Lord is doing.

An expectation of extraction rarely produces feats of gallantry. The soldier who believes his ride is on the way is more likely to keep his head down until help arrives. Christians are not waiting for angelic aviators in heavenly helicopters to airlift us out of here. Pentecost was the redemptive-historical equivalent of D-Day. Spirit-filled preachers landed on the shores of enemy-held territory and announced the King’s army had arrived. It was not a raid, but an invasion and the hosts of heaven will continue pushing forward until the coward in the bunker finally falls. This one will not escape his fate by putting a bullet in his head. He has a cell reserved in the lake of fire, and there will be no escape. There is no plan B, no retreat, no surrender. Soldiers die as they disembark the assault boats, and the enemy’s machine guns are well-placed and may seem impregnable. But the Lord did not send us here only to turn around. To adapt a pop culture reference, “We’re Christians; we’re supposed to be surrounded.”

Many believers are sure they will soon disappear, and all of the wicked will be left behind. This might seem comforting, but it is not what the Bible teaches. It misinterprets prophecy, misplaces hope, and misdirects priorities. We are not preparing to withdraw; we are commanded to press forward. We are not pulling out but digging in. Build houses, plant gardens, get married, have babies, go to Church, sing the psalms, and catechize your children. “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

On August 2, 2022 By Uri Brito In Culture, Theology Like

What is Preterism?

When Jesus comes into Jerusalem, he lays out a series of prophecies concerning the temple. He warns that not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down. He further states that these prophecies will come upon this generation (Matt. 24:34). He speaks of a time when the great testament to the Jewish system will pass away in an apocalyptic fashion. The passages–Matthew 24, Mark 13 & Luke 21–offer a host of time clues that determine the context of Jesus’ prophecy.

In this short video, I offer a big-picture definition of Preterism. Preterism means that the prophecies of Jesus, particularly in the Olivet Discourse, had a distinct audience in mind; not a future audience, but those standing there hearing our Lord in his earthly ministry.

On March 23, 2020 By Uri Brito In Culture, Politics, Theology 1

The Eschatology of Covid-19: End-Time Misinformation, Part 1

The end is near! Or at least it was when Jesus prophesied in the first-century. We, 21st-century citizens of heaven, live after the Great Tribulation. In fact, about 2,000 years after those events. These statements may seem a bit troubling to some, so let me make two caveats:

First, affirming the Great Tribulation was a past event does not mean we live in some utopian era. In fact, Covid-19 is a reminder that the repercussions of Genesis 3 will be with us until “he shall come to judge the living and the dead” at the end of history.

And second, affirming that the events in Matthew 24^a is in the past does not negate our responsibility to understand the times in confusing days. In fact, we need more wisdom in these days.

We need a healthy dose of reverent fear in our day; not because we are at the end of history but because in such a time as this God calls us to be extra valiant and courageous to do his will.

Modern-Day Prophets

One of the things I don’t want to do is to give insanity more air-time than necessary. So, I am not going to link these folks and I won’t quote them. The evidence is abundant in any modern crisis. I refer to these prophetic isolationists as thrill-seekers because they remind me of storm chasers who travel around the country in caravans seeking the latest storm. They want to get close to the action. It’s not just twitterdom that offers you a buffet of such cases, but even in the published world, you will find such people.

Some took advantage of the year 1988, the year 2000 and now they left their hibernating stage to offer the world their new and clever view of the Bible. What’s more troubling is that many folks who “specialize” in prophecies reveal in a very brief time their incompetency to understand the most basic principles of biblical prophecy.

For instance, many asserting this is “the beginning of birth pains” (Mat. 24:8) have a history of cutting and pasting texts to whatever flavor of catastrophe consumes the news today. We want to avoid this attitude and embrace the language of the Bible vigorously, even when it may challenge our long-held beliefs. And I have found over the years, especially living in the South, that the belief that Jesus can come back at any moment is crucial to the identity of many evangelicals. In fact, one can have a faulty view of the Trinity, but as long as he espouses some variation of a futuristic end-time scenario, he’s considered safe and may even get a platform to opine about revelations.

Now, context matters. It matters in this Covid-19 era as information is disseminated. And it most certainly matters when we are reading giant portions of the Bible like the Olivet Discourse (Mat. 24). If I look at that passage and see that “famines” will happen in the end and conclude that due to our milk shortage at the local grocery we have ourselves a fulfillment of prophecy, I am hermeneutically blind. That is to say, you should return to your cave.

The Olivet Discourse

Matthew 24 is used for all sorts of events. In my 40 years of life, I have seen it use to support the supposed fulfillment of prophecy in the Gulf War, that Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama were the antichrists, that the Mayan prophecies were to be fulfilled at Y2K, and currently that Donald Trump is setting the stage for the new world order.

But what some fail to see is that Matthew 24 has a long-established tradition of interpretation; one that avoids such reckless distractions from the text. Now, the question of whether a position or an idea has a long-standing history doesn’t always solve the issue at hand. However, I think it’s important to say that the beliefs you hold grow more in legitimacy if other orthodox Christians have held them for the last two millennia. To be precise, the interpretation of Matthew 24 advocated here is held by most of the Puritans, both Anglicans and Presbyterians, well-known Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, and the Reformed.

What is at stake in this conversation is the ability to either think carefully about this Coronavirus scenario or be bogged down by endless speculation when the next virus comes along carried by a vagabond vermin. We need to see that Matthew 24 opens our eyes to see the Bible clearly without dependence on newspaper exegesis^b.

Interpretational Keys

I cannot dissect the entirety of Matthew 24^c in these two articles. But others like Gary Demar have already done a real service to the church in his classic work, Last Days Madness. The book must be in its 20th edition. What I can do is offer a couple of interpretive keys to guide the reader through Jesus’ words in Matthew 24.

The first interpretive key is that Matthew 24 demands context. Again, the temptation is to cut a verse and paste it into our preferred panic situation. But the prophecy of Jesus has something very specific in mind. In chapter 23, Jesus has a full-scale indictment of the Pharisees. When Jesus finished his warnings to the Pharisees, he was going out of the temple and the disciples were pointing out the buildings of the temple. And that is where Jesus makes this remarkable prediction in chapter 24, verse 2:

Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

Early on, we begin to get some indications as to whether these prophecies were referring to the present first-century temple or some rebuilt temple in the distant future. The key is found in one little crucial word, and it is the word here. There will not be left one stone….where? Here. This is a crucial word that we should not overlook. The reason Matthew 24 is referring to that first-century temple and that temple only is because nowhere in the entire New Testament do the authors say one word about a rebuilt temple sometime in the future. Nowhere. The temple under discussion throughout the Olivet Discourse is the one that was standing during the time of Jesus’ ministry, the same temple that would be destroyed some 30 years later by the Roman Army.^d

If the identity of the temple is clear, then any attempt to futurize the words of Jesus are in vain; any attempt to connect Covid-19 to Matthew 24 suffers a thousand deaths. What we are left with are words that apply to something very specific in the early church and ought to be understood only in that way.

Probably stunned from Jesus’ statement, the disciples ask Jesus a series of questions about the present temple and Jesus will take the rest of the Olivet Discourse to answer those questions.^e But what is imperative to learn is that Jesus’ answers to those questions are guided by the principle of context which is very much dependent on the present structures of the first-century.

The second interpretive key is that Matthew 24 depends on its own language. In short, when we hear something strange in the Scriptures, we should compare it with other texts where similar language is used.

We must read the Bible as it is intended to be read. The Bible possesses its own language; its own interpretive guide. We should not allow our feeds to dictate how the Bible should be interpreted. We seek to understand the Bible in its own terms. As we read through Matthew 24 you will quickly discover that the language Jesus uses in his prophecies is not anything new, but it’s the way prophets have been speaking for hundreds of years. Jesus is continuing that prophetic tradition by using the language of the prophets. His words were not meant to be fodder for prophetic thrill-seekers but understood in its own context and its own language.

Closing Words

Matthew 24 is a difficult text. It requires us to look at the bigger picture of redemption to see why Matthew wrote Jesus’ words as he did. The end result is a beautiful picture of the righteous. God has not forsaken his people. His purposes shall prevail. His kingdom shall prevail, even if it means destroying the most sacred space of the Jewish people. God will make all things new.

Jesus was not predicting the end of times for the 21st-century world, but the end of times for the 1st-century religious system that prevailed in the day. Our Lord was not predicting the consequences of a virus coming into the world, but the destruction of the pervasive and venomous religiosity of a system that needed to end. Indeed, that generation suffered the Great Tribulation just as Jesus predicted.

we could also add Mark 13 and Luke 21 and a few scattered texts (back)
I believe Greg Bahnsen was the first to use this expression (back)
though I have preached through it; leave a comment with your email if you would like a link to those sermons (back)
Demar, Gary. Last Days Madness, 68. (back)
Again, I deal with them in my sermon series, but an even more academic work is found in Gary Demar’s book (back)

On March 20, 2020 By Uri Brito In Theology Like

The Eschatology of Covid-19, An Introduction

When I was a kid I was terrified by “end of the world” scenarios. I once woke up from an afternoon nap and the absence of my father and mother in the house immediately drew me into the rapture fever. I can recount 100 such examples in my early years. The evangelists who would come to my town in Northeastern, Brazil would opine intelligently about Middle Eastern wars and then speculate how much longer we have before Jesus ushers his church into the skies in the twinkling of an eye.

In my early teenage years, those thoughts were not as prevalent, but it still occupied a few of my dreams (nightmares!). Then, one day, I said “enough!” I was tired of prophecy experts failing too many times to count. It was a late evening that I had an experience that changed my entire outlook. A friend had given me a series of cassette tapes. During a graveyard shift, I decided to invest some of my time with them. I heard Ken Gentry deliver a lecture on Matthew 24 at the 1999 Ligonier Conference^a. It was like an eschatological atomic bomb! I have not looked back since.

Gentry’s position is called preterism. Preterism comes from the Latin which means past. The argument is quite simple: Jesus’ prophecies of coming destruction in “this generation” was not intended to speak of future events (2,000+ years later), but of current events in the first century. Anyone can see how such a framework can have drastic repercussions for how we think of modern and even global events like the Coronavirus.

100 years ago when a national tragedy took place people read about it 2-3 days later. Today any news, at its most minuscule and remote level, can be accessed, commented on, assessed with lightning speed. The ubiquitous nature of world events is updated within seconds. The Drudge Report can say one thing in its headlines and upon automatic refresh, it can change entirely their design and the news cycle. Further, twitter provides the unending supply of news with its #hashtags and even starts a myriad of movements through them.

Since this is the case, it is natural that conversations about the end of the world happen more frequently. When you look at the world scene a simple drone strike can ignite fierce debate over whether we should invade a nation or place sanctions on them. The shifting nature of political situations becomes a Disney-ride experience to those who bask in such speculation theology.

The Coronavirus has stirred the world into a frenzy at the economic, sociological and psychological levels. It is certainly a tender moment in history. Prophecy “experts”^b vigorously wait for signs to make predictions. And the signs are everywhere these days. Followers of such prophecy teachers have an enduring ability to overlook errors. They are loyal, even if that loyalty needs to be re-adjusted from crisis to crisis.

Even as the world is more and more Christianized; as the nations come to Jesus in unprecedented numbers, doomsday prophets overlook these facts and come out boldly from their computer chairs to point to the newest catastrophe to make their point. But there is no evidence in the Bible that pestilences or plagues or petulant viruses will trigger the beginning of the end. National catastrophes and world-wide events that bring fear and death to our immediate attention will always be with us on this side of history. But the question we need to consider is: Do we believe that any major current event like the Coronavirus is directly linked with Jesus’ prophecies in the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew 24? Or is the Bible, as I propose, directing us to that particular generation in history where those things took place? It is my contention in the upcoming two articles that the latter is undeniable.

…to be continued.

Ligonier is streaming all their lectures for free (back)
by experts, they refer mainly to the fact that they have dedicated a lot of time–normally not academic–to exploring key eschatology texts (back)

On December 20, 2016 By Uri Brito In Theology, Worship 2

10 Questions Preachers Should Ask Before Sunday Morning

I have been a pastor for almost a decade. I spend between 12-15 hours each week thinking, researching, and writing before I deliver the first words in my Sunday sermon.^a The process of writing my sermon goes through a lengthy journey each week. I contemplate several questions from Monday to Friday which force me to edit and re-edit my manuscript. There is no perfect sermon, but a sermon that goes through revisions and asks import questions has a much better chance of communicating with clarity than the self-assured preacher who engages the sermonic task with nothing more than academic lenses.

I have compiled a list of ten questions I ask myself each week at some point or another.

Question #1: Is this language clear? When you write a manuscript ( as I do) you have an opportunity to carefully consider the language you use. I make a habit of reading my sermon out loud which leads me to realize that certain phrases do not convey the idea clearly. A well-written sermon does not necessarily mean a well-delivered sermon. Reading my sermons out loud causes me to re-write and look for other ways to explain a concept or application more clearly.

Question #2: Is there a need to use high theological language in this sermon? Seminary graduates are often tempted to use the best of their training in the wrong environment. People are not listening to you to hear your theological acumen. I am well aware that some in the congregation would be entirely comfortable with words like perichoresis and Arianism. I am not opposed to using high theological discourse. Words like atonement, justification, sanctification are biblical and need to be defined. But extra-biblical terms and ideologies should be employed sparingly. Much of this can be dealt in a Sunday School class or other environments. High theological language needs to be used with great care, and I think it needs to be avoided as much as possible in the Sunday sermon.

Question #3: Can I make this sermon even shorter? As I read my sermons each week, I find that I can cut a paragraph or two easily, or depending on how long you preach, perhaps an entire page. This is an important lesson for new preachers: not everything needs to be said. Shorter sermons–which I strongly advocate^b–force you to say what’s important and keep some of your research in the footnotes where it belongs. Preachers need to learn what to prioritize in a sermon so as not to unload unnecessary information on their parishioners. (more…)

Thankful for great interactions before this article was published. It helped sharpen my points (back)
By this I mean sermons no longer than 30 minutes (back)

On May 5, 2016 By Uri Brito In Theology 1

The House and the Ascension

Long ago, our Father in Heaven had a plan. His plan was to create the world as a theater to display his glory. The world was to be a house that reflected his name. The Shekinah glory was to remain there forever. And through many dangers, toils, and snares, the house was little by little losing the purpose the builder had for it.

It would appear that God’s building project had become an abysmal failure. But God’s construction plans are not like our building projects. His ways are not our ways. He had a plan. He had a restoration project. He was going to restore, rebuild, and reclaim his own house. This time, the house was not going to be built on spiritual adultery or religious idolatry. It would be on the Rock, which is Christ. The builders rejected him, but the new humanity composed of men and women, and children united to the Rock, will no longer deny him.

In the life of Jesus, the foundation was poured on the earth. In his death, the wall and roof were placed to cover the world and give it shade. In his resurrection, fresh, clean water is available. Come and drink of the river that never runs dry. But there is one part of this earthly construction that is missing. There is a foundation, a roof to protect you from the storms, running water to shower and be replenished, but now we need to turn it on. We need electricity! We need the power to turn the refrigerator, stove, microwave, air conditioner, heater, fan, laptops, cell phones, etc. We need to activate the house so that everyone can live with a purpose. I propose that the Ascension of Jesus is that singular event in history that gives life to everything; that sets everything into motion. It is the electricity that the Church needs to disciple the nations.

Without the Ascension, we are living in an almost finished property. The Ascension means that the house/world is ready to be inhabited once and for all. The power is on. We can now move in together as a Church and take care of it. The workers can all go home. Our only task is now maintaining the house. Now, this house is the world. And the world is a big place. It needs to be energized by the Ascension. The Ascension is God’s way of saying: “My Son’s work is done! Now it’s your turn!” (more…)

On June 9, 2015 By Steve Macias In Books, Culture Like

Why Christians Should Read Virgil

The works of Virgil are often associated with painful assigned readings and Latin lessons, but a careful reading of this Roman poetry can help the modern Christian understand the first century context of the Christian Church. The poetry of Virgil’s Eclogues, Georgics, and the Aeneid represents a new shift in classical literature, away from tragedy in the Greek sense and toward the expectation of a new golden age.

Virgil Writing on the Eve of Christ’s Birth

Writing in the period following the death of Julius Caesar (44 BC) and during a time of unrest and civil war, Virgil’s initial poetry longs again for peace. Recognizing that the power of the Caesar was not enough to provide a stable future, the poetry focuses on a greater motif of the goodness of creation and nature. Virgil’s agriculture poetry serves two purposes in that it remains relatable to their common life and points to the perfection of the original creation. In relating to his fellow Romans, Virgil’s pastorally lines about husbandry and agriculture remind us of those used a few decades later by the triumphalist born of a virgin who hailed from the town of Nazareth.

The parables of Virgil and Jesus offer accessible wisdom for a generation caught amidst uncertainty and turmoil – hope for people crushed by the weight of the Roman Empire. The use of pastoral parables by Virgil and Jesus are also aimed at the same goal of bringing forth the image of creation. Both the Yahweh of the Jews and the Jupiter of Olympus offer a perfect garden-city where man ought to return. Restoring paradise or returning to Eden is the cultural lens of these pacific scenes of simple farming life. With a clear common cultural context on this issue, it is no surprise that Western culture has kept Virgil in the realm of their own hagiography.

The Messiah’s Garden-City in Virgil’s Poetry

Virgil’s Eclogues represent the first and prophetic part of the poet’s commentary on the political future of Rome. It is here again that Western thinkers picked up on the more messianic triumphalism of Virgil’s writing. The golden age of Rome, according to Virgil’s fourth Eclogue, was to be brought about by the birth of a savior. The following lines represent a messianic view of the man to come:

Yet do thou at that boy’s birth,

in whom the iron race shall begin to cease,

and the golden to arise over all the world,

holy Lucina, be gracious; now thine own Apollo reigns. (2. 8-11.)

It has been speculated whether Virgil may have been influenced by Jewish or Eastern thinkers in putting forward a prophecy similar to those made by Isaiah. Although there is not evidence to suggest that Virgil interacted with the Hebrew writings or even that the later Gospel writers interacted with Virgil’s poetry. Virgil’s messianic verses have caused Christian thinkers throughout the centuries to consider the poet a type of prophet for Christ. The timing of this prophecy is perhaps one of the reasons Dante Alighieri employs Virgil as a “guide” in his own poetry in the Divine Comedy.

Virgil, Dante and the boatman, Phlegyas

Rome’s Version of “Thy Kingdom Come”

While the prophecy of Isaiah would predict the coming of a Messiah whose, “Kingdom would have no end” (Isaiah 9:7), Virgil’s later work would reveal Jupiter putting forth Rome as the “imperium sine fine” or the endless empire. The hope of Virgil’s triumphalism is the imminent realization of this savior to usher in the new world, albeit through Virgil’s personal identification with Roman patriotism, morality, and heroism.

Expecting that the Golden Age of Rome is at hand, Virgil is called to write his great epic The Aeneid. The story is again a garden story. The story of noble and perfect beginnings that Rome now longs for under their current emperor. In a triumphalist sense, Aeneas is to Adam what Octavius is to Jesus. The Rome that was once Eden is to be restored to wealth, virtue, and peace under the rule of the endless empire. There is in this climax a certain parallel between the Pax Augustus and Pax Christi.

Hail! King of the Jews!

Their parallels ultimately converge as St. John the Baptist announces the coming of Christ’s Kingdom. Christ’s role as the “Son of God” serves as a direct challenge to the narrative of Virgil with the Roman Emperor as “son of God.” This doctrine coupled with the Christians’ commitment to only worship the true emperor, is the source of the conflict between Rome and the Christian Church. Christ’s imperial reign begins at the edict of Pilate as this title was hung above his dying body: “Jesus Of Nazareth The King Of The Jews.” The Roman world hungry and ready for the Kingdom of the “Son of God” then follows the Roman Centurion, who at the foot of the cross transferred that title from Rome to Jesus.

Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, and subsequent Roman emperors were regularly referred to as “son of God” (divi filius)

Reading Virgil allows us to see how the Romans of the first century would have received Christ’s ministry and understood the reality of his kingdom. A hearty reminder that the sentimental and personalized Jesus born out of our modern age would make little sense to the ancient reader of the Gospels. Christ’s ascension was a clear picture of his enthronement and his reign from the right hand of the Father. The Kingdom really is now. The hope and longing of all of history is realized in the present reality of the reigning King who has and is making all things new.

What Happens the Day Before Easter?

The Passion Week provides vast theological emotions for the people of God. Palm Sunday commences with the entrance of a divine King riding on a donkey. He comes in ancient royal transportation. The royal procession concludes with a Crucified Messiah exalted on a tree.

The Church also celebrates Maundy Thursday as our Messiah provides a new commandment to love one another just as He loved us. We then proceed to sing of the anguish of that Good Friday as our blessed Lord is humiliated by soldiers and scolded by the unsavory words of the religious leaders of the day. As he walks to the Mount his pain testifies to Paul’s words that he suffered even to the point of death. But hidden in this glaringly distasteful mixture of blood, vinegar, and bruised flesh is the calmness of the day after our Lord’s crucifixion.

After fulfilling the great Davidic promise in Psalm 22, our Lord rests from his labors in the tomb. Whatever may have happened in those days prior to his resurrection, we know that Christ’s work was finished.

The Church calls this day Blessed Sabbath or more commonly, Holy Saturday. On this day our Lord reposed (rested) from his accomplishments. Many throughout history also believe that Holy Saturday is a fulfillment of Moses’ words:

God blessed the seventh day. This is the blessed Sabbath. This is the day of rest, on which the only-begotten Son of God rested from all His works . . .(Gen. 2:2)

The Church links this day with the creation account. On day seven Yahweh rested and enjoyed the fruit of his creation. Jesus Christ also rested in the rest given to him by the Father and enjoyed the fruits of the New Creation he began to establish and would be brought to light on the next day.

As Alexander Schmemann observed:

Now Christ, the Son of God through whom all things were created, has come to restore man to communion with God. He thereby completes creation. All things are again as they should be. His mission is consummated. On the Blessed Sabbath He rests from all His works.

Holy Saturday is a day of rest for God’s people; a foretaste of the true Rest that comes in the Risen Christ. The calmness of Holy Saturday makes room for the explosion of Easter Sunday. On this day, we remember that the darkness of the grave and the resting of the Son were only temporary for when a New Creation bursts into the scene the risen Lord of glory cannot contain his joy, and so he gives it to us.